And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
– The Bible
~~~
Photo credit: honorbound / Foter / CC BY-ND
Don’t let the positive messengers out there fool you.
You can’t make yourself feel better by simply telling yourself this is “your best life now”, and all that goes with that message. It may suffice for some people whose challenges are minimal. It can give you a temporary high. It can even lie to you by making you think that your positive outlook, your performance, caused the positive outcome.
But for the grandfather who is doubled over with pain from stomach cancer or the young mother who is now paralyzed with a stroke, the positive message is a mockery to human angst.
I understand the importance of choosing to be optimistic. And yes, we can and should talk ourselves into at least considering there is another side to whatever we’re facing. But so often, the positive message comes from people who had a positive outcome to what they prayed or believed for.
Where does that leave people who didn’t get a positive outcome?
If you look closely, those hurting people have a positive message, too. It was despite their outcome that they found the true positive message. They had to dig deep to find it. Deeper than any popular book, teaching, or sermon. Deeper than anything the human spirit or intellect can contrive.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Your positive message will be that you’ve seen the light of God’s face in the darkness. And don’t be surprised if people don’t listen. Because humans have always been good at finding another way.
God may not change your situation. But He will wipe away your tears.
~~~
Photo credit: atzu / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
I’ve walked a 2 mile trail almost daily since mid-June.
In the summer, the woods were carpeted with leafy ferns that resembled a faceted emerald reflecting the sunlight.
In the fall, it was alive with colors of copper, gold, and ruby against a sparkling river.
And now, the frost has shriveled the undergrowth and the tree branches are gray and bare.
But I still brought my camera. Because there is beauty even in barrenness, if you will see it.
Through the leafless trees, I saw my first bald eagle flying above the river.
I discovered tiny oak tree saplings under the frost bitten, shriveled ferns.
And the faded, fallen leaves still laid out a carpet for hikers like me.
But most of all, I saw hope. This path through the woods will lie dormant with bitter winds and a blanket of snow. But it will not die. It will just be sleeping.
Because in the spring, it will come to life with wildflowers and frogs and fresh, new leaves. How exciting to have this anticipation of what will be coming!
Your life may feel dead. It’s not. If nature has cycles, don’t we?
What is hope? Seeing beyond today.
There is anticipation for a new day with new experiences which will unfold as gently and slowly as a flower bud.
Can you see it? It’s a choice you have to make.
Be patient.
I just finished planting more tulip and daffodil bulbs.
I love how the ground feels this time of year. I don’t even wear gloves because I want to feel the earth.
As I dropped each bulb in, I smiled to think of each flower’s appearance in the spring. Here in the Northeast, the winter will feel very long some days. But the expectation of new flowers breaking through the melted snow is a simple, yet profound, lesson of life.
What is it that you expect?
Does your mind immediately wander to despair?
Don’t let it. Choose to remember and expect good things.
Today, provide the words for your own life through this picture.
~~~
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow.
It empties today of its strength.
-Corrie Ten Boom
Photo credit: johnb/Derbys/UK. / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
The smells of autumn are unmistakable. The clean smell of Macintosh apples in a nearby bushel, the carpet of golden maple leaves soaking in the warm sun, and the damp earth preparing a resting place for frost-bitten hostas, salvia, and phlox.
And then one leaf…and another…gracefully floated to the ground to take its place among the others.
Seasons end, but another is waiting. Do we hang on to the old? Or do we anticipate the new?
Even in the midst of the cold and bitter winter, there is life. The wind plays with the snow, creating ripples of purple shadowed dunes while grand, lacy snowflakes rock gently to the earth – breathing life into our weariness.
The pain will end. But in its cold and bitterness, there is still life. Can you find it?
Joy is when there is nothing to be happy about.
There is only one place joy comes from. It’s the same place love comes from.
God.
Both are not fleeting feelings. They are anchored hard and fast and true in the bedrock of faith.
Joy keeps you going in the right direction, even when you want to run the other way.
When you find yourself smiling during sorrow and hadn’t planned on it, that’s joy.
When out of nowhere, you find yourself hopeful for the future, that’s joy.
Joy is the small, steady flame that burns in our hearts. Pain, sorrow, suffering, loss, and heartache, threaten its power. Sometimes, its light is shadowed by situations and circumstances.
But joy is an eternal flame that can never go out.
Will you find it?
~~~
Photo credit: jasonstaten / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God …
~~~
Photo credit: JH Images.co.uk / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
when it hurts 